The Colonial Motor Company Limited is a car, motorcycle, truck and agricultural equipment dealer with 18 outlets throughout New Zealand. From 1911 to 1936 it was

Ford Canada Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited ( French: ''Ford du Canada Limitée'') was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford automobiles in Canada and the British Empire. It was originally known as the Walkerville ...

's importer and distributor for New Zealand and assembled Ford cars from knocked down packs. It was notable for its pioneering nine-storey assembly plant which built New Zealand's Ford cars from 1922 to 1936.

History

The Colonial Motor Company (CMC) originated from William Black's American Coach Factory which started operations in 1859 at 89

Courtenay Place, Wellington Courtenay Place is the main street of the Courtenay Quarter in the Wellington inner-city district of Te Aro. Courtenay Place is known for its entertainment and nightlife. Many restaurants are open late and most of the bars stay open until dawn. ...

. In 1881 Black's business became insolvent and was bought by the Empire Coach Factory, coach and carriage builders and wheelwrights of Rouse and Hurrell who expanded the business with new three storied premises calling it Rouse and Hurrell's Empire Steam and Carriage Works. In 1908 director

Charles Norwood Sir Charles John Boyd Norwood (23 August 1871 – 26 November 1966) was a prominent Wellington New Zealand-based businessman with interests throughout New Zealand and Australia. He was a civic leader, his knighthood was awarded for public servic ...

arranged a Dominion wide

Ford of Canada Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited ( French: ''Ford du Canada Limitée'') was founded on August 17, 1904, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford automobiles in Canada and the British Empire. It was originally known as the Walkerville ...

agency. In August 1911 Rouse and Hurrell's business was transferred to a new incorporation, The Colonial Motor Company Limited. Norwood left and formed Dominion Motors. In 1916

Hope Gibbons Hopeful Gibbons (4 October 1856 – 25 June 1947), known as Hope Gibbons, was a New Zealand businessman, philanthropist and local politician. Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia on 4 October 1856 he arrived in New Zealand in 1862. He s ...

and his family interest acquired a shareholding, becoming majority shareholders in 1918. CMC was listed on the

New Zealand Exchange New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...

in 1962, although descendants of Gibbons continue to hold a majority shareholding.

Assembly of knocked down vehicles

Construction of New Zealand's first specialised car assembly plant was begun by CMC in 1919 and completed in 1922 at 89

. It was a steel box of nine floors, based on the Ford assembly works in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The building stood over 30 metres high and was Wellington's tallest building at the time.Car assembly
''Evening Post'', Volume CXI, Issue 19, 23 January 1926, Page 6 The top two floors were used for administration. Assembly of cars from imported packs of parts started on level 7, and finished vehicles were driven out the ground floor. *bodybuilding with the steel stampings from Canada *body painting *chassis assembly, completion of engine *upholstery *parts bulk store *batteries and electrical *bulk cases and unpacking of parts to be hoisted to other floors In addition to Courtenay Place, CMC built smaller assembly plants at Fox Street, Parnell,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and Sophia Street,

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

. At the end of 1925 assembly staff numbers were 641: Wellington 301, Parnell 188 and Timaru 152 people. At that time daily output was: 25, 20 and 18 respectively. In the 1970s Wellington's former assembly building was given a new facade inspired by a car radiator.

Reconditioning engines

In 1924 an employee demonstrated the ''K R Wilson Combination Machine''. Within three hours he relined the crankshaft bearings, bored them to accurate size and re-bored four cylinders to a standard Ford size. The work would previously have taken 18 to 20 hours. A special assembly bench by ''Manley Motor Support'' assisted with quick and accurate re-assembly. The machinery was claimed to bring factory exactness to the local garage and ensure a full 12,000 miles of running without further attention. Other machinery for the same purpose included the ''Wright Multi-valve Grinder'' which grinds 4 valves at once, the ''Ames Cylinder Gauge'', the ''Wilson Crankcase Aligning Jig'' and ''Weaver Axle Stand''.

Assembly taken over by Ford

In 1936 the Ford Motor Company of Canada took over distribution and vehicle assembly establishing a new plant at Seaview near

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

while CMC retained most of the vehicle dealerships. The new factory began to assemble cars in early 1937 and was formally opened on 7 April 1937.

Dealerships

At the end of 2015 CMC reported its subsidiaries held these dealerships in these locations:Dealerships 2015
/ref> ;

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

: Manukau City, Botany, Pukekohe, Auckland Airport, Takanini, New Plymouth, Hawera, Waipukurau, Masterton, Lower Hutt, Wellington, Porirua, Kapiti, Nelson, Christchurch (x2), Greymouth, Rangiora, Timaru, Dunedin, Oamaru, Invercargill, Queenstown ;

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

: Manukau City, Botany, Pukekohe, Auckland Airport, Takanini, Masterton, Lower Hutt, Wellington, Porirua, Kapiti, Timaru, Dunedin, Oamaru, Invercargill, Queenstown ;

BMW motorcycles BMW Motorrad is the motorcycle brand of BMW, part of its Corporate and Brand Development division. It has produced motorcycles since 1923, and achieved record sales for the fifth year in succession in 2015. With a total of 136,963 vehicles sold i ...

: Christchurch ;

Kenworth Kenworth Truck Company is an American truck manufacturer. Founded in 1923 as the successor to Gersix Motor Company, Kenworth specializes in production of heavy-duty ( Class 8) and medium-duty (Class 5–7) commercial vehicles. Headquartered in ...

& DAF: Manukau City, Rotorua, Christchurch ;

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

, Citroen,

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

& Isuzu: Manukau City ;

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

: Hastings ;

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

: New Plymouth ;

Kia Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

: Nelson ;

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

: Pukekohe ;

Suzuki motorcycles List of Suzuki motorcycles. References {{Suzuki motorcycles * Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all- ...

: Masterton, Christchurch ;

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an Sports Car Club of America, SCCA/Canadian Auto Sport Clubs, CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two r ...

: Pukekohe ;also:Tractors and agricultural equipment for Southland:
Tractors:

Case IH Case IH is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. It was created in 1985 when Tenneco bought selected assets of the agricultural division from International Harvester and merged it into its J.I. Case Company (IH then became Navistar).To ...

Kubota Kubota machine is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Osaka. It was established in 1890. The corporation produces many products including tractors and other agricultural machinery, construction equipment, engines, vending machines, p ...

; Equipment:

New Holland Construction New Holland Construction is an American manufacturer of construction machinery. Along with New Holland Agriculture, New Holland Construction is a brand of CNH. New Holland Construction produces construction equipment including backhoes, excav ...

, Kuhn, Norwood

References

External links

{{Authority control Auto dealerships Automotive companies of New Zealand Motor vehicle assembly plants in New Zealand Retail companies established in 1911 New Zealand companies established in 1911